Lando Norris plays down his losing battle with the Red Bull driver: “Nobody in F1 could have recovered from a deficit like the one I had.”

Lando Norris has refuted Max Verstappen’s claim he would’ve won the title “even earlier” in the McLaren, the Briton adamant Red Bull’s early-season advantage could not be overcome. Verstappen and Red Bull picked up where they left off last year with an emphatic 22-second victory at this year’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix where he led home a Red Bull 1-2.

The dust is still settling on last weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix, where Mercedes surprised everyone by claiming a one-two finish. George Russell took the chequered flag while Lewis Hamilton made up nine places to finish second and join the podium celebrations.